What He Knows That She Doesn't: Scarlet and Wolf
by Down Iris
Summary: When a mysterious stranger shows up in Scarlet's life, she is loath to trust him. But does she have any choice if she wants to find her grandmother?
1. The Rescue

What He Knows That She Doesn't: Scarlet and Wolf

Chapter 1: The Rescue

by Down Iris

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I do not have any rights to nor make any money from the characters in this story.

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In this story, Wolf is from a parallel universe peopled by werewolves, and he goes to modern day France to convince Scarlet to be his mate.

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Please read my other Scarlet and Wolf fan fictions, A Piercing Gaze, To Protect Her, Coincidence, A Hasty Escape, and What Was Wolf Thinking?

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A lot of the minor characters are out of character; I'm just using familiar names in filler roles. This Ze'ev is more refined than Wolf is, but he is a prince after all.

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It was Prince Ze'ev's twenty first birthday, and the whole kingdom of Everwhere was celebrating. A great feast had been prepared at the palace, and dancers and entertainers performed.

After all the cake had been eaten, Sage Darnel approached the prince. Ze'ev waited eagerly. A generation ago, a great plague had swept the nation, killing almost half of the inhabitants. Ever since then, it had been the custom for werewolves who had not married by their twenty first birthday to travel out into the human world and bring back fresh blood for their mates. There was a spell to find the ideal human mate for a werewolf.

Ze'ev had been waiting for this day for years, having found no werewolf woman in the kingdom who suited his fancy. Most couldn't see past him being the prince. He wanted someone who wouldn't see him just as royalty.

"Are you ready to find the human most suited for you?" Sage Darnel asked Ze'ev. Ze'ev nodded, rubbing his hands together under the table. He couldn't keep a stupid grin off of his face.

Sage Darnel assembled his magical items and placed Ze'ev's hand in the middle of a pentagram. A burst of smoke puffed out, making Ze'ev cough. Then a voice cried out, loud and chilling, "Scarlet Benoit of Rieux, France."

"France, huh?" King Jael said, leaning forward to see Ze'ev better, smiling widely. "I traveled there once when I was younger. It's a nice place."

"I can't believe my little boy is all grown up!" Queen Camilla dabbed at her eyes with her napkin.

Princess Winter, Ze'ev's little sister, sighed. "I predict true love will be in your future soon, Ze'ev!" She smiled brightly. "And I'll have a sister finally! I've always wanted a sister."

Prince Ran, Ze'ev's younger brother, snorted. "I can't believe you want a human for a mate! They're pathetic. Werewolves are much superior."

"She'll become a werewolf, so what's the difference?"

Prince Ran gave him a look of disdain. "Being bitten is much different than being _born_ a werewolf."

"Calm down, Ran. It's not you who's mating with a human. You still have two more years to find your own mate," King Jael said.

"Yes, but she's going to be queen! A human!"

"Whatever," Ze'ev said, dismissing Ran's nonsense like always. He turned back to Sage Darnel, who held up a rock that had been part of the pentagram.

"Sniff this rock. It will smell of Scarlet Benoit, so you will recognize her scent," he said. Ze'ev sniffed it, and thought it smelled wonderful. He couldn't wait until tomorrow, when he would meet this Scarlet.

"I will guarantee that I'm married by my twenty first birthday!" Prince Ran declared bitterly. "And I'd make a much better king than my softhearted brother," he muttered under his breath.

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The next morning, Ze'ev went to the library. It was a vast room in the palace, filled with shelves upon shelves of centuries-old books, though he doubted any of them had been taken off the shelves since they had all been digitized. He walked straight to the librarian's desk, which stood out from the ancientness of the rest of the room, as it was full of computers, scanners, printers, and the like. Behind the desk sat Wynn, one of the librarians.

"I figured you'd be here today. You found your human?" Wynn asked.

Ze'ev grinned. "Yes. Now I need to know more about her."

"What's her name?"

"Scarlet Benoit of Rieux, France." Wynn typed as Ze'ev spoke.

Wynn scanned the screen in front of him. He clicked a few times and scrolled down the page, but suddenly stopped. "Huh…" he said.

"What?" Ze'ev leaned around the monitor, but he couldn't make anything out.

"It seems her grandmother, Michelle Benoit, has disappeared."

"Why does that matter?"

Wynn looked at him and smiled. "Can't you guess?"

It took Ze'ev a minute, but it finally dawned on him. "You think I should help her find her grandmother?"

"Wouldn't that make for a good introduction? Very heroic, don't you think?"

"I suppose. Do you know where she is?"

"I'll see what I can find, but you can always scry for her. Let me research for a while, and I'll send you an email with what I find."

"Thanks. I'll leave you to it." Ze'ev meandered back through the labyrinth of shelves and out the door.

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An hour later, Ze'ev received Wynn's email. He spent the next few hours going over it again and again, until he felt like he already knew Scarlet Benoit. She lived with her grandmother in Rieux. She was a delivery driver for a shipping company. She had curly red hair, brown eyes, and a sprinkling of freckles on her cheeks. Ze'ev thought she was beautiful.

Wynn had found no information about Scarlet's grandmother, so Ze'ev made sure to grab a scrying crystal before he left.

Wynn had also included instructions for a French language spell, which Ze'ev cast on himself. Once he had gotten some human money from the treasury, he headed to the magical gate. "Off on another adventure?" asked Rafe, the gatekeeper.

"The biggest adventure there is!" Ze'ev declared proudly. Rafe smirked. "Rieux, France, please."

Rafe set the controls and a dusty street came into view. Ze'ev walked through the gate and found himself on that street. He sniffed the air.

He found Scarlet's scent immediately, but he could tell she was a long way off. He negotiated his way through the small town until he approached a café. He spotted the back of a girl with curly red hair seated at an outdoor table. Finally, he had found her. His future mate.

Now that he had found her, though, he was nervous as to how to approach her. He wanted to make a good first impression, and not sabotage their relationship before it even started. He decided to start with her grandmother. That would gain Scarlet's attention immediately.

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Scarlet looked up as a man approached her table. He was tall and handsome with messy dark brown hair. He was very muscular and her breath hitched when her gaze caught his unnaturally green eyes. "Hello," he said shyly. "Do you mind if I join you?"

"Why?" Scarlet asked, instantly suspicious.

"I have a proposition for you."

"I'm not buying anything."

"Don't worry, I'm not selling. It has to do with your grandmother."

Scarlet inhaled sharply. "What about my grandmother?"

"May I sit down?"

She debated for a moment, but her curiosity overcame her distrust. "Fine."

The man sat down. "I'm Ze'ev Kesley," he said, holding out his hand. Scarlet reluctantly shook it.

"Scarlet Benoit. Now what do you know about my grandmother?"

"I have a way to find out where she is. I'd be willing to help you find her if you'll do a favor for me."

"What's this favor?" she asked, suspicious again.

"I'll tell you after we get her."

"You want me to agree to do something without knowing what it is?"

"It's not dirty, if that's what you're worried about."

"Is it illegal?"

"No."

"Is it _immoral_?"

"Not by any code I can think of."

"You're not going to want me to sign my house over to your or something, right?"

"All I want from you is some of your time."

Scarlet peered across the table. Her grandmother had been gone for over two weeks, with no clue as to what had happened to her. She was loath trust this stranger, but she had no other lead. "Fine. If you get my grandmother back, I'll do your favor." Ze'ev smiled, the look dangerously mischievous. "Now how are you going to find her?"

"Magic."

Scarlet scoffed. " _Magic?_ "

"I know magic is in decline in this world, but it still exists. To find your grandmother, all I need is something precious to her. I can use that to scry for her."

"These are her favorite earrings." They were simple dangling steel birds. Her grandfather had given them to her grandmother on their first and only anniversary. He had been killed in a car accident a few days later, orphaning her father before he was even born. Scarlet was wearing them to help her feel closer to her grandmother. She was skeptical, but she took them off and handed them to Ze'ev.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a crystal. He held the earrings in his hand with the end of the chain on the crystal. He took out his smart phone and pulled up a map app. The crystal swung around as he zoomed father and farther out. At last, to Scarlet's surprise, it stuck to the phone. Ze'ev zoomed in.

"Just southeast of Paris. Do you know why she'd be there?"

"Paris? No."

"She seems to be in the middle of a forest, at least that's what it looks like on this map."

Scarlet jumped up, buoyed by hope. "We can take the train and be there in a few hours." She didn't trust this man, but she was desperate to find her grandmother.

"Certainly." Ze'ev smiled.

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Scarlet led Ze'ev to the train station. They bought their tickets and boarded a train. They found an empty compartment and settled in. Then a knock came on the door.

"Yes?" Ze'ev asked.

An old woman opened the door. "Do you mind if I join you in here?"

Ze'ev and Scarlet glanced at each other. He had been looking forward to spending time alone with her, but he didn't want to be rude. "Um, go ahead."

"Thanks." The old woman sat down and promptly fell asleep, with her head leaning against the wall. Ze'ev thought maybe they would be alone after all. He turned to Scarlet.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"Paris."

"What do you do there?"

"I'm a dishwasher at a restaurant." Ze'ev had decided on that for his cover years ago whenever he traveled, since no one would ask many details about his job. He always picked a large city in the same country to be from. He couldn't tell her who he truly was, or she wouldn't trust him.

"What were you doing in Rieux?

"Looking for you."

This startled her. "Why?"

"To help you find your grandmother."

Scarlet's eyes narrowed. "Why are you so interested in my grandmother?"

"I wanted to ask you a favor, and helping you find your grandmother seemed like a good way to get it."

Her eyes narrowed further. "Why me? Why did you want me to do you a favor?"

"I promise I'll tell you everything…after we get your grandmother."

Scarlet debated in her head for a moment. "Fine. But it better not be anything sleazy."

"It's harmless, I assure you."

She seemed to relax a little. "So how did you learn to use magic?"

"It's been passed down in my family for generations."

"If you can do magic, why are you a lowly dishwasher?"

Ze'ev smiled. "Using magic for personal gain is taboo. Sort of like bad karma."

"What else can you do besides search for people?"

"Would you like a demonstration?

Scarlet looked eager. "Sure."

Ze'ev tried to think of something that would look cool. Then an idea occurred to him. He could smell almonds in Scarlet's purse. "Do you have any food?"

""Um…." She searched her purse and pulled out a bag of almonds and a protein bar. "I have these."

"Set one of the almonds on the floor."

"Okay…" she said skeptically, and did so.

Ze'ev glanced at the old woman, but she was still asleep. He cast a growing spell on the almond, letting the tree grow just large enough to flower. Scarlet looked entranced. "That's amazing!" She plucked off one of the flowers and twirled it around in her fingers. "Can you do that with all plants?"

"There are limitations, which I won't bore you with now. But growing spells are an integral part of agriculture in…." He trailed off, realizing that he had almost mentioned his world. He tried to think of something to cover his mistake. "…In certain parts of the world where magic is still used." To his relief, for once Scarlet didn't seem suspicious.

"So what are we going to do with the tree now? It would look strange carrying it around, and people would wonder if we left it in here."

"Now for my next trick." Ze'ev summoned an undying flame. It hovered over his left hand, burning blue. Scarlet gasped. "Put your hand near it, but don't touch it. It can burn you."

She reached out. "It's hot! What is it burning with? And isn't your hand hot?"

"It burns on magic, both smokeless and ashless. I'm not sure how to explain why, but my left hand doesn't feel its heat. Watch this." He broke a branch off of the almond tree and fed it into the flame. Bits of orange danced through the blue flame, and it crackled. Soon the branch was gone.

"It burned the whole branch up? Where did the ashes go?"

"No one knows. That's one reason why undying flames are not widely used. Try for yourself if you like."

Scarlet plucked another branch off the tree and fed it halfway into the fire, then pulled it out. The end was charred. Ze'ev couldn't help but smile at her awestruck look. He watched indulgently as she burned the rest of the tree.

When the almond tree was gone, Ze'ev dismissed the undying flame. "Can you teach me how to do that?" Scarlet asked enthusiastically.

"Certainly. But not here, it's too public. It would be hard to disguise an error here, and all beginners make errors. We wouldn't want you to burn a hole in the wall, for example."

"Of course." She looked excited but willing to be patient.

"I told you about me. Why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

"There's not really much to tell. I've driven a truck for ZIM ever since I graduated from high school a year ago. I've lived in Rieux with my grandmother since I was seven. She retired from an adoption agency five years ago."

Ze'ev spent some time coaxing more information out of Scarlet, although some of it he already knew from Wynn's research. He knew he had a stupid grin on his face, but he couldn't be happier. Scarlet seemed to fit him in every way. He especially liked her feistiness. She would make a good queen for his people.

"What about you?" Scarlet asked eventually.

"Hmm?"

"Tell me more about yourself."

He stuck to the truth as much as possible when describing himself, and he tried hard to remember all the lies he told her so he wouldn't contradict himself, and so he could correct them at some later point. He didn't want her becoming suspicious again. He had read human books and traveled in the human world enough to feel comfortable with the version of his life that he made up. He also wanted to be as truthful as he could so she would get to know the real him as soon as possible.

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Scarlet was surprised to find herself having fun just talking with this stranger. She felt herself drawn to Ze'ev as he became less and less of a stranger. She felt comfortable with him already, which was unusual. He had brushed away her usual defenses, and she found herself opening up to him more than she had with anyone besides her grandmother. She laughed easily at his jokes.

One thing about him bothered her, though. Ze'ev had spent most of the trip smiling at her, a cross between goofy and smug.

"Quit smiling like that! It's creepy!" she said finally. The look itself was actually rather attractive, but it made Scarlet feel like he was laughing at a private joke at her expense.

"Sorry," he said, and tried to school his features, but the edges of his lips still turned up, and she could still see an amused glint in his eyes. Or maybe she was just imagining that. She tried to ignore it and enjoy talking with him.

Occasionally he would start grinning again, but each time he would quickly suppress it.

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When they arrived in Paris, Ze'ev rented a car. He had Scarlet drive while he navigated. They were both nervous about what they would find, and their conversation didn't involve much besides directions. They drove almost an hour southeast when they came to a forest. After driving around for a while, they realized that the only road that led to where Michelle was located was blocked off.

Ze'ev had Scarlet park the car on the side of the road as close as possible. The sun had gone down by then, but the moon was just past full, so Ze'ev hoped Scarlet could see well enough. His werewolf eyes could see just fine.

He could tell there were many people in the forest as soon as he opened the car door. He could also smell Michelle, the same scent as was on the earrings. He led Scarlet into the trees, creeping silently. She, however, seemed to make a large amount of noise. He led them in a zigzag, avoiding the people he could smell and hear around them.

As they were walking, Ze'ev picked up the scent of some humans coming towards them. "Run!" he whispered, and took off. Scarlet stumbled after him, but he knew she couldn't see nearly as well as him, and she was not as athletic. He had to slow his pace down to match hers and he considered picking her up and carrying her.

Suddenly they were surrounded by six men with guns and night vision goggles. Ze'ev worried about whether he could fight them all off while in his human form. His eyes saw red, however, when he spotted one of the men aiming his gun right at Scarlet's forehead.

He didn't even realize that he had transformed until he saw his claws go for the throat of that man. He instinctively took out the other five men before any of them could get out a shot. Once he could hear that none of them were breathing, he looked for Scarlet to make sure she was all right.

His heart winced as he saw her petrified look directed at him. Before he could say anything, she took off running. Ze'ev ran after her. He forced his body to transform back to human, and quickly caught up to her. He grabbed her with one arm and pulled her against him.

Scarlet screamed. He slapped his hand over her mouth. He listened for a moment, and sniffed the air, but no one else was coming. Scarlet was rigid with fear in his arms.

He leaned down towards her. "I'm not going to hurt you," he whispered, as comfortingly as he could manage. "I'll let you go if you promise not to run away or scream, okay?" She nodded stiffly and he released her.

She immediately scurried away and continued to slowly back away from him. He wanted to close the distance between them, but he resisted the urge. "You're a…a…" she stammered.

"I'm a werewolf," Ze'ev confirmed. He didn't think her eyes could go any wider, but they did. "But I swear I'm not going to hurt you."

"You killed all those men!"

"If I hadn't, they would have killed you. Would you prefer that?"

"No…."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spring this on you like that, but I'm not going to hurt you. Let's just get your grandma and get out of here. Then I'll explain everything. Okay?"

Scarlet seemed to consider this. She was still tense, but her face had lost the shocked horror. "Okay…" she agreed weakly, with distrust still in her eyes. She reluctantly followed as Ze'ev moved forward, following Michelle's scent.

They came to a building, and Ze'ev could smell three sentries patrolling nearby. "Wait here," he whispered, and proceeded to knock out the sentries quietly one by one. He snuck up to the building and peeked in the window. He could smell fourteen more men inside. Two were playing cards in the room he could see, with another watching a TV. He circled around the building. Eight were asleep in a large barrack-style dormitory. The other three were in a back room with Michelle, asking questions. She cried, but said nothing.

Ze'ev wondered how best to get Michelle out. He considered drawing some of them outside, but was afraid one might get by him and attack Scarlet. He decided that a stealthy frontal assault was the best option. Hopefully he could keep his attacks quiet enough to not alert anyone in the other rooms.

He pulled the front door open and pounced on the man by the TV. As he took him out, the men playing cards jumped up. "What the…" one of them started, but Ze'ev turned on them and soon they were down as well. He listened for a moment, but the sleeping men and the ones with Michelle hadn't noticed anything. Ze'ev next moved to the dormitory, going to the sleeping men one by one and making sure they wouldn't wake up anytime soon.

Last was the room with Michelle in it. He pulled open the door and got one man before he even turned around. The other two whipped out their guns. Michelle screamed, but Ze'ev barely heard it. He quickly took out the two men before they could shoot.

He turned to Michelle, and saw the same petrified look that Scarlet had worn. He saw she was tied to a chair, so he used his claws to slice off her ropes before returning to human form. Michelle still looked terrified. She was covered with blood and bandages, having obviously been tortured.

"I'm sorry I scared you, but I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I'm here with Scarlet to rescue you. Can you walk?"

Michelle seemed to be processing this information. She had perked up when he mentioned Scarlet. He could tell when she decided that he was less of a threat than the men who had been holding her captive because she relaxed a little. "No, I can't walk."

He pulled the ropes off of her and scooped her into both arms. She cried out in pain. He hurried back to Scarlet, still waiting where he had left her. Her worried expression vanished when she spotted her grandmother.

"Grand-mere!" she exclaimed, and hugged Michelle, but drew back when Michelle cried out in pain. "What did they do to you?" she asked anxiously.

"We need to get her to a hospital," Ze'ev said, but he was worried about the hour-long drive back to Paris. Also, he could smell more men in the woods, and he was worried they might track Michelle down again if she was registered at a hospital. Suddenly he got an idea.

"I'm going to need to put you down for a moment," he said, and eased Michelle onto the ground. He pulled out his phone and dialed the gatekeeper of the magical gate. "Hello, this is Ze'ev. I need a gate nearby as quickly as possible."

"Okay," replied the gatekeeper, who Ze'ev recognized as Troya. "I'm locking onto your position now." Ze'ev waited impatiently for a minute. "You should be able to see it."

Ze'ev spun around, searching. It was to his left. "I see it. Thanks. And call an ambulance, please." Ze'ev hung up and picked up Michelle again. Both she and Scarlet looked mystified.

"What was that about?" Scarlet asked.

"Just follow me," he said, heading for the gate about a hundred meters away.

Scarlet gasped when she saw the gate. "What is that?" she exclaimed in disbelief as they neared it. A large view of the magical gate's room showed in the middle of the trees.

"Just step through it," Ze'ev said, and did so. He turned back to see Scarlet's shock, but she followed through a moment later and gasped again.

"Where are we?"

"This is my world. Welcome to Everwhere Kingdom." He turned to Troya at the controls. "Is the ambulance coming?"

"It should be here soon. You should wait outside."

"Got it. Thanks." He led a disbelieving Scarlet out to the street. He looked down at Michelle and saw the same disbelief. "I'll explain everything later, but for now we need to get you to the hospital." He heard sirens in the distance. A moment later the ambulance appeared.

"Your Highness?" one of the paramedics asked as she came out.

"This human needs medical attention. She was tortured."

"Okay. Lay her down on the bed." She stepped aside. Ze'ev climbed into the ambulance and set Michelle down.

"Don't worry, these people will take care of you," he said before he exited. "This is her granddaughter." He pointed at Scarlet. "She'll ride with you." He turned to Scarlet. "Go in the ambulance with your grandmother."

"What about you?"

"I need to return the car, and I'll try to find out more information about these people. I'll come find you later." He planned on interrogating some of the men.

"Be careful," Scarlet said as she entered the ambulance and the paramedic closed the doors. The ambulance took off, sirens blaring.

Ze'ev felt exhausted all of a sudden, as the adrenaline wore off. He stopped by the restroom and washed the blood from his hands. Then he went back to the magical gate. "I need to go back to the same place," he told Troya.

"Coming up." A minute later, Ze'ev stepped back into the forest. He searched for a single man somewhere nearby, and snuck up on him. He pounced, knocking the man onto his stomach and covering his mouth. The man grunted.

"I've already taken out many of your friends. I want information from you. How cooperative you are determines whether you die as well. If you try to call for help, I'll kill you immediately. Got that?" The man nodded quickly and Ze'ev removed his hand. "Now. Who are you people and what did you want with Michelle Benoit?"

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Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I couldn't resist. I have the rest of the story planned out, but feel free to guess if you want.


	2. The Hospital

What He Knows That She Doesn't: Scarlet and Wolf

Chapter 2: The Hospital

by Down Iris

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I do not have any rights to nor make any money from the characters in this story.

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I hope this chapter is worth the wait from the cliffhanger. The explanation is rather convoluted to suit the characters from the books as well as possible. I know a prince should have bodyguards, but they would have complicated the story, and the rescue wouldn't have been as heroic.

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"Now. Who are you people and what did you want with Michelle Benoit?" Ze'ev asked.

"We're La Drogue Foule, a drug cartel," the man said, obviously scared. It seemed Ze'ev had picked the right man to question. "Our leader, Carswell Thorne, was arrested in a drug raid eight years ago, although he escaped from prison a year later. His wife was killed and his three-year-old daughter was taken by the police. He's been looking for her ever since, and we thought Michelle Benoit had knowledge about her, since she used to work for an adoption agency in Rieux, where we believe Cress was adopted by the Minister of Justice, Kai Saturnie, and his wife Cinder. The girl was named Cress after her mother, who called her 'Little Cress.' Minister Saturnie adopted a three-year-old girl shortly after Cress was taken, who is now called Selene. We were trying to get Michelle Benoit to verify that the two girls are the same, but she insists she knows nothing about Cress." The man sounded nervous throughout the speech.

"So what are your next plans?"

"Carswell Thorne was arrested three months ago. Minister Saturnie and his family are going to the opera house Palais Garnier this Friday to see _Der Ring des Nibelungen._ We planned to hold the opera house hostage and demand his release, at the same time recovering Cress and killing Minister Saturnie for revenge."

"Is that everything?" Ze'ev asked menacingly.

"Yes, I swear that's everything! Please don't kill me!" the man pleaded.

"Fine." Ze'ev transformed and turned the man over so he could see him. The man's eyes went wide with shock. "If you tell anyone here that you talked to me, I will come back and kill you, got it? I can pick up your scent from miles away. Don't let anyone know that you told me the plan, okay?"

"Yes, okay, whatever you want!" the man exclaimed. Ze'ev jumped up and ran off.

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After he drove the car back to Paris and returned it, Ze'ev went back through the gate to Everwhere. He headed straight to the hospital.

"Your Highness!" the receptionist exclaimed as soon as she saw him, leaping to her feet. "How can I help you?" She smiled widely but seemed nervous. Ze'ev was used to that reaction.

"I sent two humans here a couple of hours ago. I'd like to see them."

"Of course!" The receptionist sat back down and typed on her computer. "They should be in room 426."

"Thanks." He took off to the elevators and went to the fourth floor. He could tell what room they were in by their smell. When he entered the room, both Scarlet and Michelle were asleep. Scarlet was curled up in a chair, with her mouth slightly open and her hair draped across part of her face. Ze'ev smiled, thinking that she looked very cute.

He sat down beside her, and must have disturbed her, because she stirred. "Oh good, you're here," she said, and yawned. She looked mostly relieved, but still a little afraid of him. "I don't understand anything the people here are saying."

Ze'ev winced. "Sorry, I didn't think about that. Let me find a language spell." He got out his phone and texted Wynn, hoping he would answer at this time of night.

"I don't know what the doctors are saying about my grandma's condition, and I've been herded around the hospital with hand signs. Grand-mere's been asleep since they brought me in here."

"I'll call a doctor." He pressed the call button. "I found out why those men were holding your grandma hostage."

"Why?" Scarlet asked. Ze'ev relayed what the drug smuggler had told him. Scarlet looked worried. A moment later, the door opened. A doctor stepped in.

"Hello, Your Highness, I'm Dr. Erland. What do you need?"

"We'd like to know about the patient's condition."

"Yes, of course. I hope you can translate for the young lady. We've had trouble communicating. And I have a few questions myself."

"Sure."

"First, what is the patient's name?"

"Michelle Benoit."

"Where is she from?"

"Rieux, France."

"Do you know how she came to be injured? I heard from the paramedic that she was tortured, but she didn't know any details."

"She was being held captive by a group of drug smugglers. They were torturing her for information about their drug lord's daughter. I don't really know anything about her torture besides that. They'd held her captive for over two weeks."

"All right. Well, she has cuts and burn marks on much of her body. We cleaned her wounds, stitched up the ones that needed it, and dressed them." Ze'ev looked at Michelle. She was partially covered by a blanket, but he could see bandages up her arms, around her neck, and a few on her forehead. "She was also dehydrated and malnourished, likely as a result of her long captivity. She's on IVs for a saline solution and a nutrition pack, as well as painkillers. I can only imagine the horrors she went through in the last two weeks. We'll keep her a few more days to see how she does. She'll probably spend most of the time asleep because of the painkillers."

"Thanks." He relayed the information to Scarlet, who looked worried. Dr. Erland soon left.

As Ze'ev was sitting back down, he got a text message back from Wynn, telling him to check his email. Wynn had sent him the language spell for Everwheran. He cast it on Scarlet and Michelle.

"You should understand everything people say here now," he said.

"Good. That was scary, not knowing what was going on." Scarlet settled back in her chair. "Okay, so you rescued my grandmother. Now what's this favor you want from me?"

"I want you to visit my kingdom for a week."

"Why? And why did you want that favor before you even got to know me?" Scarlet looked at him funny. He decided to tell her about wanting her to be his mate.

"Do you believe in fate or destiny?" he started.

"Not really."

"Hmm." Ze'ev decided to change tactics. "A generation ago, a plague struck Everwhere, and several neighboring kingdoms. Almost half of the inhabitants were killed, and we've been struggling to recover ever since. It has since become the custom for werewolves who reach twenty one without finding a mate to go to the human world to find their mates, to increase the population." Scarlet looked like she was following, but the realization hadn't struck yet. "There is a spell to find the ideal human mate of a werewolf." Still nothing. "My twenty first birthday was yesterday."

Finally it dawned on her. "You want _me_ to be your _mate_?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes."

She looked flabbergasted. "But I don't even know you!"

"Well, that's why I wanted you to stay here for a week. So we could get to know each other." Scarlet just stared at him. He grew uncomfortable. He realized he shouldn't have said anything so soon.

"Where are we, even? And how did we get here?"

"We're in Everwhere Kingdom, in the capital city, Artemisia.

This world is in a parallel universe from the human world. We can access your world through the magical gate we walked through."

"We're in a whole new _universe?_ " she exclaimed.

"Technically, although it's very similar to the human world."

Scarlet's jaw hung open, making Ze'ev uncomfortable. "It's not that big of a deal, is it?" he asked nervously.

"Yes, it _is_ rather a big deal! I've never heard of a parallel universe before!"

"They're written about a lot in human literature, though."

"That's _fiction!_ This is an actual, real place!" She reached out and knocked on the wall.

"Well, I guess I'm used to it, so it doesn't seem strange. I've been going through the magical gate since I was seven, and I knew about it since before I can remember. I can try to answer any questions you have, though I don't know much about the details of how the gate works."

"I don't even know where to start asking questions!"

Ze'ev was worried by her disbelief. "I could try to find a book or article that describes how the magical gate works, but it might be too technical if you don't know anything about magic." He paused. "But it obviously works, right?"

"I guess I can concede that." He was relieved when Scarlet seemed to calm down. "This day has been mind-blowing."

"But everything's better now, right? I mean, you have your grandmother back and she wasn't seriously hurt."

"We still have to worry about La Drogue Foule. And you still want me to marry you."

"I don't want to rush you." Ze'ev tried to take Scarlet's hand, but she yanked it away. "That's why I wanted you to stay here. To convince you to be my mate. I knew you wouldn't want to become my mate right when we first met each other. You have to get to know me better first. But I'm willing to wait as long as you need."

"What if I never want to marry you? What would you do then?" Scarlet looked at him accusingly.

Ze'ev smiled. "You wouldn't have been picked as my ideal mate if that would be the case."

"You sound too sure of yourself for my taste."

Ze'ev realized he had backed himself into a corner. "I'm sorry. I just believe in the magic." He decided he should probably leave for the evening and start fresh in the morning. "I'm getting tired and should probably go home. Do you want me to find you somewhere to stay?"

"I want to stay here with Grand-mere. If she wakes up alone, she might get worried." Scarlet still looked like she didn't really trust him as well.

"Okay. I'll come back tomorrow." Ze'ev left the hospital and went back to the palace.

He tossed and turned in bed for hours before finally falling into a fitful sleep. He was worried about how Scarlet had reacted to what he had said, and wondered what to say next to make it better.

%

Ze'ev woke up early the next morning. After having breakfast, he had a meal made up that he could take to Scarlet. Then he went to a store and bought some clothes and toiletries for her. After that, he made his way to the hospital.

Scarlet was asleep again when he came in. He pulled out his phone and played a game on it for more than half an hour until a nurse came in.

"Hello," Ze'ev said.

"Your Highness! It's so nice to meet you!" the nurse almost squealed, waking up Scarlet. "Oh, I'm sorry to disturb you!"

"That's okay," Scarlet mumbled, and then spotted Ze'ev beside her.

"Please, carry on," he said to the nurse.

"Of course." She went over to Michelle and checked her vitals.

"Good morning," Ze'ev said hopefully. Scarlet was frowning at him. "I brought you breakfast." He held up the bag.

She looked a little less distrustful. "Thanks." She started eating as the nurse left.

"So how is your grandmother?"

"She only woke up once, for about five minutes. I had trouble telling her where we are now. She kept warning me that La Drogue Foule could attack at any minute, and she wouldn't believe me that we were safe."

"I assume you will want to stay with your grandmother until she is sent home?"

"Yes."

"Do you need to call anyone in Rieux because of your absence?"

"Oh! I need to call in sick at work, or Gilles will think I'm ditching." She dug into her pocket and brought out her phone.

"You can't call the human world on your phone. You can use mine." He pulled it out and handed it to her. "It's set up to route calls through the magical gate."

"Thanks." Scarlet dialed a number and listened. "Hi, Gilles, it's Scarlet. We found my grandmother, but she's in a hospital…in Paris. I won't be able to come to work for a few days." She listened for a minute, looking worried. "Yes…I'm sorry…yes, definitely call the police and report it…all right, thanks, bye." She hung up and looked at Ze'ev, worried. "Apparently two men showed up at my work half an hour ago and threatened Gilles, my boss, to tell them where I was. Gilles told them I had called in sick, so they wouldn't wait for me. I assume they were from La Drogue Foule." She shuddered. He wanted to put his arm around her to comfort her, but restrained himself.

"I guess it's a good thing I brought you here, then. They must be trying to recover your grandmother."

"Apparently." She looked worried.

Another nurse opened the door, and Ze'ev looked up over Scarlet's shoulder. "Your Highness?" the nurse asked.

"Yes?" he replied, and saw Scarlet's eyes widen in the corner of his eye. He stood.

"I'm sorry, but there's been some difficulty about processing the costs for Michelle Benoit's treatment, since she doesn't have an account in this world."

"I'll sign off on everything."

"Okay, I'll get the paperwork started."

"Thank you." Ze'ev sat again, and as the door closed, Scarlet turned on him.

"Your _Highness_?" she exclaimed.

He winced at the disbelief in her voice and on her face. "Er, yes. I'm the crown prince of Everwhere." He started blushing as she stared at him.

"When were you planning on telling me that?"

"Well, it didn't really seem that important to me, but I guess that's because I'm used to it."

"You said you were a dishwasher from Paris!"

"That was just my cover. Would you have believed me if I told you I was prince of a kingdom of werewolves?"

Scarlet's eyes widened. "There are more werewolves here?" She started to pull away from him in her seat, looking scared. He had hoped that she had gotten used to the idea of him being a werewolf, but it seemed like it had just slipped her mind in all the chaos.

"This world is peopled by werewolves. But most go their entire lives only transforming for certain occasions. I had combat training, though, which utilizes the superior physical abilities of our wolf halves. That's why I could take out all those men."

"So _everyone_ here is a werewolf? All the doctors and nurses?"

"Yes."

"Is it like in the stories, where you turn into wolves at the full moon and eat humans?"

"No. We can transform at any time, as you saw last night. And it's been illegal for werewolves to eat humans for several centuries in most countries in this world, although there are still werewolves who do it. Killing humans is only allowed in self-defense and to protect others. I'm going to have to go to the police station and file a report about killing those drug smugglers last night."

Scarlet looked a little less scared of him, but still distrustful. Then her eyes widened. "Wait, so if I married you, I would be a _princess_?" Her tone indicated that that was not what she wanted.

Ze'ev winced. "I'm sorry. I meant to lead up to all this more slowly, but bringing your grandmother here seemed like the best course of action at the time, although it made all these explanations necessary. Why don't I give you some time to think about all this, unless you have more questions?"

"Sure," Scarlet replied, seeming relieved.

He reluctantly stood up. "Okay, then I'll be back later. I brought a change of clothes and some toiletries. They're in that bag." He pointed. "Good-bye."

"Bye." He left the room.

First he headed to the police station. He filled out a few forms and had an interview with one of the officers. They accepted that the deaths had been to protect Scarlet and Michelle, and soon let him go. He wondered if non-royal werewolves would have been let off so easily.

%

Scarlet sat in the hospital room, not knowing what to think of the last twenty-four hours. Yesterday had started normally, sleeping in on her day off. She was worried about her grandmother, but after two weeks that had kind of settled into the background of her mind. She had decided to visit the café for lunch, and then everything went crazy when Ze'ev sat down with her.

The first shock was a stranger being interested in her life, wanting to help her and wanting a mysterious favor. Then the existence of magic was revealed, although the shock of that didn't really hit until they were in the train.

During the train trip, Scarlet had started liking Ze'ev, although she still didn't want to trust him. Her grandmother's safety came first, though.

Then they were so close to her grandmother, but they were surrounded. Scarlet was sure she was going to be shot in the head. Then the biggest shock came when she saw Ze'ev transform into a werewolf. Remembering him easily taking out those men, even though she couldn't see it very well, still made her shudder.

Even though she was scared of him, deep down she had started to trust him. He succeeded in getting her grandmother, but then he pulled up a magical gate and brought her to another world, yet another shock. He left her with people who spoke a different language, so she had little clue what was going on until he got back.

When he did show up again, he basically said that he wanted to _marry_ her, based on some magic that said they were compatible. She had started overanalyzing everything he said after that, wondering what he was really thinking.

She was too sleepy and worried about her grandmother to really process all of that yesterday, though. Then this morning, she found out that not only was this world peopled by werewolves, but also that Ze'ev was the _prince_. That made her even more anxious about him wanting to marry her.

And on top of all that, her grandmother had been tortured by drug smugglers who were still after her.

Scarlet's mind reeled at everything that had happened. She didn't know if she could get used to all of this. She dreaded Ze'ev's return, not sure how to react to him. She was worried about what he would do if she refused him.

She did acknowledge that she needed to be grateful to him for saving her grandmother and hiding them here. She realized that she hadn't even thanked him yet.

%

Ze'ev appeared at the door a few hours later. "Is it okay for me to come in?" he asked.

"Sure," Scarlet said, having gotten her thoughts together somewhat during their time apart. He sat beside her and handed her another bag.

"I brought lunch."

She braced herself. "I realized while you were gone that I haven't even thanked you for everything you've done for us. I doubt I would have ever seen my grandma again if it wasn't for you, and now you're hiding us where La Drogue Foule can't get us. So really, thank you."

He looked embarrassed and shrugged. "I just want you to be happy." He was silent for a moment. "Does this mean you'd be more inclined to accept my invitation now?" he asked nervously.

"I guess I did agree to that, so I won't back out of my promise now."

Ze'ev's face lit up. "Once your grandmother is better, I'll show you everything this kingdom has to offer."

Scarlet felt a little uncomfortable still, but she tried to overcome it.

"…Scarlet…" she heard weakly from the bed. Her grandmother's eyes were open. Scarlet rushed to her side and took her hand.

"Grand-mere! I'm here! I'm glad to see you're awake. Do you need anything?"

Her grandmother clung to her hand. "You need to be careful! La Drogue Foule could attack at any minute! They're still going to be after me!"

"Calm down, Grand-mere, we're safe here! La Drogue Foule can't reach us here. Don't worry."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. We're not in France anymore, we went through a magical gate." Scarlet wasn't sure how much she should try to explain to her grandmother now, while she was probably still somewhat out of it from the painkillers. "We're in a parallel universe. There's no way they can reach us."

Her grandmother looked confused but didn't ask questions, and Scarlet was relieved when she seemed to calm down. "Do you need anything?"

"Could I have some water, please?" Scarlet picked up a cup from the table and helped her grandmother get the straw into her mouth. "Thank you," she said, releasing the straw, though Scarlet didn't think she had drunk very much.

"Do you need to talk to a nurse?"

"No, I think I'm all right. But are you sure we're safe?"

"Yes, Grand-mere. They can't find us here."

"You look exhausted, dear."

"Well, the hospital chairs aren't that comfortable. And I've been worried about you. But the doctors say that you'll be okay, your wounds are mostly superficial, though you'll have scars."

"Were you sleeping here? How long have I been unconscious?"

"Just last night. It's afternoon now."

"Where are we again? And how did we get here?"

"We're in a parallel universe. Ze'ev brought us through a magical gate. I don't really know much about it either."

"Ze'ev?" He had been standing quietly in the background. Scarlet motioned him forward.

"Yes. This is Ze'ev. He's the one who rescued you." Michelle looked over at him and her eyes widened.

"You…you're a…" she stammered. Ze'ev cringed.

"Yes, I'm a werewolf."

Her grandmother turned back to Scarlet. "He killed the men who were torturing me," she whispered, worried.

"Actually, I think I only killed one of them," Ze'ev said, having overheard with his heightened sense of hearing. "The other two will probably survive."

"You can trust him, Grand-mere. He's keeping us safe." Scarlet hadn't really thought about it until she said it, but she found she did trust Ze'ev, even though she was still a little afraid of him too. "Ze'ev questioned one of the men holding you, so we know about La Drogue Foule and why they were torturing you. Is it true that Minister Saturnie's daughter is really Carswell Thorne's?"

"Yes. Eight years ago, Kai Saturnie was the lead prosecutor in the case against Carswell Thorne. Kai found out that Selene's mom had been killed in the raid where Thorne was captured and that Selene was in foster care. He and his wife Cinder had just decided to adopt a child, and Cinder wanted a little girl, so Kai thought it seemed like fate. He was able to pull some strings to keep Selene's adoption confidential, so Thorne couldn't find her again when he got out of prison. The hardest part was to get Selene to go by her new name. It would have been too easy for Thorne to find her if she still went by Cress.

"I assume Thorne's been trying to find Selene since he broke out of prison years ago, but something led La Drogue Foule to our adoption agency three weeks ago. Someone broke in and stole some files. Then a few days later, I was kidnapped and brought to that place you found me. They were trying to get me to confirm that Selene was Cress, but I refused to do so."

"The man I questioned also told me about holding an opera house hostage while Minister Saturnie and his family will be there. Do you know anything about that?" Ze'ev asked.

Scarlet's grandmother looked worried. "No, they didn't tell me about that."

Ze'ev told her what the man he had interrogated had said. "I suppose we need to alert the police, but I'm not sure how to go about it. They wouldn't believe me if I told them the truth."

Her grandmother closed her eyes and Scarlet felt her hand loosen its grip. She put her hand down and sat back down. He sat next to her.

Still worried about her grandmother, Scarlet thought of something. "Is there any way for me to check my messages here?" she asked Ze'ev.

"With your phone, we'd have to go back to the human world. Actually, we could stop by your house if you wanted to pick up a few things."

"That sounds good. When can we do that?"

"Now, if you want."

"Okay. Grand-mere will probably be asleep for a while."

%

Ze'ev took Scarlet back to the magical gate. Rafe was the gatekeeper again. "Tell Rafe your address." He didn't want her to know that he had her address memorized. She did so and soon they were stepping into Scarlet's house.

Ze'ev's first impression was that the house was packed full but neatly organized. Every space had something in it, either decorative or functional. He wondered if that was from Scarlet or her grandmother's influence. He wandered around the first floor and returned to the living room.

Scarlet had sat down on a chair there as soon as they arrived, and she was still checking her text messages. She looked up when Ze'ev returned. "My friend Emilie's been trying hard to get a hold of me. I'm going to call her back." She dialed the number and held up the phone to her ear. "Hey, Emilie, it's me. Sorry I didn't get back to you…oh my gosh!" Scarlet listened for a moment, her eyes wide with horror. Ze'ev grew anxious. "I'm so sorry…yes, we're someplace safe…you don't have to worry about us…ok, thanks, sorry again…bye." She hung up and looked at him. "La Drogue Foule attacked Emilie! They were trying to get her to tell them where I was. She was walking down the street and two men dragged her into an alley. They punched her a few times in the stomach but let her go after she swore she had no idea where I was. She said she's just sore, not really injured."

"I'm sorry."

Scarlet looked like she was trying to calm herself down. "I guess I should get my stuff so we can be out of here." She went up to the second floor.

Someone knocked on the front door. Not sure if it was okay for him to answer it, he called, "Who is it?"

The only answer was several loud thuds, which Ze'ev quickly realized were attempts to break down the door. He ran to the front door and peered out the window. Two men stood outside, one of them kicking the door. Analyzing the situation, Ze'ev thought it best to just open the door, to prevent damage. He knew he could take out both humans without transforming.

As soon as the door opened, Ze'ev pushed the men outside. Both men drew out guns, but Ze'ev was fast enough to grab them away. He smacked their heads together and they fell to the ground, unconscious. Ze'ev searched the perimeter of the property and flushed out two more men, who soon joined those on the ground. Ze'ev grabbed their wrists and dragged them to the front door.

"Ze'ev?" Scarlet called from upstairs. "Ze'ev?"

"Yes?" he replied.

"Where'd you go? And what was that thumping?"

"It looks like I caught some drug smugglers trying to break in. Do you have any rope?"

" _Drug smugglers_?" Scarlet ran down the stairs and saw the men outside. "How did they know we were here?"

"They must have staked out the house, and they saw us turn the lights on. Do you have any rope to tie them up with?"

"I don't think so, but my grandmother crochets, so we have plenty of yarn. Would that work?"

"If we wrap it around enough times. Go grab some."

Scarlet ran back up the stairs and quickly returned holding two skeins. "These look the sturdiest." Ze'ev took them and started wrapping yarn around one man's hands and feet.

"You should call the police to come get these guys," Ze'ev said as he wrapped the others. Scarlet got her phone out and called. Ze'ev thought this might be a good chance to tell the police about La Drogue Foule's plans.

A few minutes later, two police cars showed up. Two police officers got out of each one.

"What do we have here?" one of the police officers asked.

"These men tried to break into Scarlet's house. We think they were looking for her grandmother, who La Drogue Foule kidnapped two weeks ago."

"La Drogue Foule?" the police officer asked skeptically.

"Yes."

The police officer had his men put the drug smugglers into the cars, but he still seemed skeptical as he asked Ze'ev questions. Ze'ev got more and more irritated.

"All right, we'll need you two to come down to the station for questioning," he finally said.

"Fine, we'll meet you there," Ze'ev said, annoyed that they would need to explain more. The police left.

Scarlet hadn't said very much. "That officer seemed rather antagonistic," she said.

"Yes. Very infuriating. But we need the police to understand the danger La Drogue Foule poses."

"Let's get in my car." Scarlet's car was in the driveway and she drove them to the police station.

%

Once they were there, Ze'ev and Scarlet were sat down in a room with two police officers, one of whom was the one who had questioned them at the house. Again Ze'ev tried to explain what he had heard, but the police officers still seemed skeptical. They didn't believe that he had rescued Michelle by himself.

"I can give you the coordinates of their hideout, though they've probably cleared out by now."

"So you infiltrated this hideout all by yourself? Weren't they defending it?"

"I knocked a lot of them out," he said, not wanting to admit that he had killed several, as that would complicate matters.

"And how were you able to knock them out?" The man sounded like he didn't believe Ze'ev was capable of it.

"I was in the military. I knocked out all four of those men today," he said, trying to prove that he was capable of it.

After several more questions, Ze'ev was getting very frustrated. The police officers wouldn't believe him about La Drogue Foule's plans. He had several choice swear words on the tip of his tongue, but he reined them in, not wanting to sound crude in front of Scarlet.

"Can we talk to someone else?" he finally asked.

"I'm the police chief here, so if you can't convince me of your story, you can't convince anyone here," the man said.

"Fine, then can we go?"

"If you haven't got anything else to say, then go ahead."

As they were walking back to Scarlet's car, Ze'ev let out an exasperated sigh. "Are all French police this incompetent?"

"No, I think we were just unlucky," Scarlet replied. "We'll have to think of something else to do, if the police won't listen to us."

%

Ze'ev and Scarlet returned to the hospital room without saying much.

After sitting for a moment, Ze'ev said, "We need to have La Drogue Foule rounded up or they will continue to come after you and your grandmother. Should we try to tell the police in Paris? Or warn Kai Saturnie himself?"

"I don't know. They might be skeptical about your story too. And what would they try to do? If Minister Saturnie doesn't go to the opera house at all, La Drogue Foule won't reveal themselves. Then they'll just attack him some other time. We need some way to flush out La Drogue Foule without getting anyone hurt." Scarlet looked worried.

Ze'ev sat thinking for a minute. "So ideally, we want them to show themselves at the opera house so the police will arrest them, but we need to keep them from shooting anyone."

"Ideally, yes."

"There is a magic powder that makes everyone who inhales it fall asleep. If we could release it right after La Drogue Foule exposes themselves, then we could neutralize the individual members until the police show up."

"But wouldn't we fall asleep too?"

"There are magical necklaces that negate the effects. Police here use them sometimes. I could borrow a couple. Also, there is another powder that will wake everyone back up again. We could release that when we're done."

"How would you get the powder to everyone? There must be balconies as well as the huge room, and members of La Drogue Foule will probably be stationed throughout the building."

"I just need to dump it into the right air vent. Then it will circulate around. I'll try to get a blueprint of the air system and figure out the best place."

"So are you actually considering carrying out this plan?"

"Can you think of anything better?"

Scarlet paused. "No, I suppose not."

"We can start planning, while continuing to try to think of something better. It's only Wednesday. We have two more days."

"I guess you're right."

They talked for some time about the plan and various other things. Ze'ev was glad that Scarlet was starting to open up to him again. After a while he heard her stomach growl.

"Might I treat you to dinner?" he asked.

"Um…." Scarlet looked at her sleeping grandmother, then back at Ze'ev, looking torn.

"It's all right if you don't want to leave. I can bring something back."

"No, we can go somewhere," Scarlet finally said. "She'll probably sleep for a while longer. I'm getting sick of this hospital chair."

"Okay. I'll take you to my favorite restaurant." Ze'ev smiled.

%

Scarlet had thought that the favorite restaurant of a prince would be someplace higher quality than the small deli Ze'ev took her to. She noticed as soon as they got out of the car on the busy street that people were watching them and standing around, whispering.

When Ze'ev led her inside, everyone in the restaurant stopped talking for a moment, and then whispers started. Ze'ev didn't seem to notice. He walked up to the counter. The three people behind it all smiled. "Your usual, Your Highness?" one asked.

"Yes, please." He turned to look at Scarlet, who was looking through the menu. She picked a dish and a drink and Ze'ev paid for them. Then he led her to a table. She noticed several people watching them.

"Do people always act like that when you're around? The doctors and nurses seemed a little strange around you too."

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm used to it, that's how it's been since I was little. Actually, that was one reason I was looking forward to having a human mate. All the werewolf girls here go crazy over me just because I'm the prince. I wanted someone who wouldn't think of me only as royalty."

Scarlet pressed her lips together, not knowing how to respond. Her reaction to him being a prince was to feel rather intimidated, especially since he wanted to make her a princess.

She was very self-conscious while they ate, because people kept staring at them. She even saw a couple of them taking pictures with their phones. Ze'ev was able to ignore it, or maybe he didn't even notice. It seemed like he was used to the attention. She thought it would be hard being a princess here with people acting like this. Then she realized that she could go through the magical gate at any time and be anonymous in the human world.

It was only after she had thought about all that that she realized that she had been imagining herself as a princess without thinking about it. She had taken it for granted. She blushed and tried to come up with something to say. Then she remembered what they had been talking about at the hospital.

"Let's say we go ahead with your plan at the opera house. What do we need to set it up?"

"Well, I'll find the right place to release the magic powder. Then we just have to wait until La Drogue Foule shows themselves. I suppose you could be in the audience and text me when they do."

"What if it's sold out?"

"Well, we can get into the theater through a gate, so you could just stand somewhere."

"They might ask to see my ticket if I'm not in a seat." Scarlet thought for a moment. "Do you think the Palais Garnier has private balconies? I could sneak into one of those and put everyone to sleep with the magic powder. Then I would just need to wait in there."

"That sounds good. Hopefully the best air vent will be somewhere inconspicuous for me to wait."

"Wait, if we do this, even though everyone will be asleep, there will still probably be cameras. We would be recognized."

"There's a disguise spell that works on cameras. Actors use them all the time. Werewolves are trained as children to be able to tell when someone is wearing one, to avoid being tricked, but knowing someone has one on still doesn't allow a werewolf to know what that person really looks like. Humans, however, won't be able to tell that they are seeing a disguise because they're not used to magic."

"Can you perform this spell?"

Ze'ev squirmed. "I used to play tricks on my brother using it. Most children teach it to themselves as soon as they know it exists, just for fun."

"What about fingerprints? I've never had mine taken by the police, and I doubt you have, but they might trace us back with them."

"I'll just get fancy gloves for us to wear. I'm sure many people will wear gloves to a fancy opera."

"So what do we do once everyone is asleep, tie them up?"

"I can get us a bunch of zip ties, so we can use those on their hands and feet. I'll take care of the men in the theater, because a lot will probably be hidden. I'll be able to sniff out any who were in the forest, and any others will probably have guns on them, so I'll be able to smell the gunpowder. You look for anyone obvious in the rest of the building, and then I'll run a quick check to catch anyone you missed."

"What about when the police show up?"

"If they try to come into the building, they'll fall asleep too. You should probably check the foyer first, and hopefully they won't have arrived yet, or at least come into the building."

"You sure came up with this plan easily. And you have it so well thought out already."

Ze'ev blushed. "Well, I have been trained to be a leader and make plans since I was born, so I have a lot of experience."

"I guess that comes in handy." He changed the subject and they talked for a while longer until they returned to the hospital.

%

Ze'ev and Scarlet sat talking in the hospital room for some time.

Eventually Dr. Erland came in. "We're going to start reducing your grandmother's painkillers so hopefully she can go home tomorrow," he said.

"Really?" She smiled. "Great!"

He mentioned a few things about taking care of Michelle and then left.

"That's great," Ze'ev said, feeling disappointed.

Her face suddenly fell. "I can't take her back home with La Drogue Foule still after her, though."

He perked up and smiled shyly. "You can stay in the palace for as long as you need."

"I don't want to trouble you. You've already done enough." Scarlet sounded like she didn't want to be further indebted to him.

"It'd be my pleasure. There are plenty of guest rooms lying empty. And the servants can help you take care of your grandmother."

Scarlet looked like she didn't want to agree but saw no alternative. "Fine, for now. Thank you."

They talked for a little while longer and then Ze'ev went back to the palace for the night. He made sure that two guest rooms near each other would be available before going to bed.

%

Early the next morning, Scarlet woke up as someone entered the hospital room. It was a woman wearing a dress that looked much too elegant for a hospital.

"So, are you to be our new princess?" the woman said with a weird inflection, smiling brightly.

"Um…maybe?" Scarlet replied uncertainly.

"I'm Iko, one of Her Majesty's seamstresses. Prince Ze'ev has requested for me to make you a gown so he can take you to the opera." She pulled out a tape measure. "Stand up."

Scarlet stood up and held her arms out as instructed while Iko measured almost every part of her body, even the length of all ten fingers. She didn't write any measurements down. "Now, what color gown would you like?"

"I don't really care."

"How can you not care what you look like?" Iko ran a disapproving look over Scarlet's red hoodie and jeans. "Well, I recommend pink, to go with your hair."

"That's fine."

"What type of sleeves would you like?"

"I don't really care about that either."

"Do you care about _anything_ about your dress?" Iko asked, irritated.

"Not really."

Iko abruptly smiled. "Well, I guess that just gives me free reign to create what _I_ think will suit you best, then."

"Whatever you want. You're the expert."

"All right, I will send you the best gown ever! Tata!"

Iko glided out the room before Scarlet could say, "Bye."

"Scarlet?" She hurried to her grandmother, who had opened her eyes.

"Yes, Grand-mere? I'm glad to see you up." She took her hand. "The doctor said you could probably go home today. How are you feeling?"

"I feel a lot better than I did. What day is it?"

"It's Thursday. We rescued you on Tuesday. You've been sleeping a lot. But the doctor said he's reducing your painkillers, so you should be more awake now."

Her grandmother seemed much more coherent that morning, and Scarlet went into detail about what had happened since she was kidnapped.

Ze'ev showed up later with breakfast and a wheelchair. "I borrowed this. I doubt you'll want to walk much yet, although the doctor said you shouldn't have any trouble walking once you're stronger," he said to Scarlet's grandmother.

"Thank you," she replied. She whispered to Scarlet. "That's the young man who rescued me, right?"

"Yes, Grand-mere."

"And he's really a werewolf? I didn't dream that?"

"Yes."

"How are you feeling?" Ze'ev asked, coming closer.

"Much better. I want to thank you for saving me and helping Scarlet. How do you two know each other?"

Scarlet blushed and Ze'ev looked at her questioningly, like he was leaving it up to her to explain. She couldn't come up with a good way to explain it, so she just said, "It's complicated. I'll explain later." Her grandmother seemed to accept that.

"So where are we again?" she asked. "I thought you said something about a parallel universe, but I must have dreamed that."

"No, Grand-mere, we really are in a parallel universe. This is Ze'ev's home. We came through a magical gate. It's very similar to our world, though."

"Yes, this looks just like a normal hospital."

"You're in Everwhere Kingdom, in the capital city, Artemisia. This is where I grew up," Ze'ev added. "When the hospital releases you, you can come stay at the palace so La Drogue Foule can't find you. I've already had two rooms prepared for you and Scarlet."

"The palace?" Scarlet's grandmother seemed confused.

"Yes, I'm the crown prince of Everwhere," he said reluctantly. Her grandmother seemed shocked. "You can't go home with La Drogue Foule still after you. But they can't reach you here."

"You're a werewolf _and_ a prince?" she asked.

"Yes. This whole world is peopled by werewolves. All the doctors and nurses are werewolves." Ze'ev paused. "And we can use magic as well."

"That's how he found you, Grand-mere," Scarlet added.

The three of them talked for a while, and Scarlet was glad to see that her grandmother and Ze'ev seemed to get along.

Eventually a nurse came into the room. "I'm glad you're here, Your Highness. We need some signatures." She handed Ze'ev a clipboard, and he sat down to look over the papers. He handed them back when he was done. "Dr. Erland should be here shortly, and he'll probably release you, Miss Benoit."

"Thank you," Scarlet's grandmother said. The nurse exited.

A few minutes later Dr. Erland did show up, and he talked about what Scarlet and her grandmother needed to do after they left the hospital and gave them some papers. Then he said they were free to go as soon as another nurse came to get them.

This nurse unhooked Scarlet's grandmother from the IV and helped her get dressed while Ze'ev waited outside. Then she helped get her into the wheelchair and accompanied them downstairs to Ze'ev's car. Soon they were on their way to the palace.


	3. The Palace

What He Knows That She Doesn't: Scarlet and Wolf

Chapter 3: The Palace

by Down Iris

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I do not have any rights to nor make any money from the characters in this story.

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I wrote the part with Winter before the book came out, so she might be a little off, but keep in mind that this Winter is only nine, she grew up with loving parents, and she's not crazy.

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Ze'ev drove Scarlet and her grandmother through Artemisia. Both of them thought it looked just like any French city until they turned a corner and suddenly the palace was before them. "What do you think?" Ze'ev asked, sounding both nervous and proud.

"It's beautiful," Scarlet said. It looked like a fairy tale castle, not like somewhere people would actually live.

"It's over five hundred years old, but it's been updated extensively. For instance, there used to be no parking garage." He pulled to the front gate and rolled down his window.

A guard came towards the car and raised his arm when he saw Ze'ev. The gate started to rise. "Welcome back, Your Highness," he said.

"Thanks." Ze'ev drove his car in and maneuvered into an underground parking garage. He pulled into an empty parking space right in front of a set of large, fancy double doors. "There's an elevator right through here." He got her grandmother back into her wheelchair and soon they were heading upstairs. Scarlet was surprised to see that even the elevator was fancy, with a hardwood floor.

When they exited the elevator, they were in a large entryway. Scarlet could see the other side of the huge doors that had opened onto the front courtyard at one end of the hall.

"Would you like a tour of the castle now, or would you like to go to your rooms?" Ze'ev asked.

"All this moving around has been pretty exhausting. I'd like to lie down, if you don't mind," her grandmother said.

"Certainly." He pushed her wheelchair through the palace, pointing out things as they passed by. Eventually they came to the guest rooms. "Your room is here, Scarlet," he said, pointing out a room with a fancy purple door. "And here is yours, Michelle," he said, opening a fancy green door down the hallway.

Scarlet was amazed by the room. She realized that she should have expected it, given how the other rooms of the palace had been decorated, but it still looked impressive, with embroidered linens and intricately carved furniture. Ze'ev helped her grandmother into the bed.

"Is there anything you need?" he asked them.

"I'm good," Scarlet said, still studying the room.

"Could I have something to drink?" her grandmother asked.

"Of course." He picked up a remote control from the table and handed it to her. "Just press the 'talk' button and ask for what you'd like."

Her grandmother seemed confused as she followed his instructions. "Hello, how may I help you?" came a voice from a speaker on the wall.

"I'd like some juice, if possible."

"Do you have a preferred type?"

"Do you have orange juice?"

"Yes."

"I'll have some of that, please."

"Someone will bring that down shortly. Is there anything else?"

"No, that's all. Thank you."

"You're welcome." The speaker stopped transmitting.

"You have a button to push to get food?" Scarlet asked, somewhat disbelieving.

"Before electronics, there used to be hundreds of wires connected to bells running throughout the palace. This makes things much simpler."

"I guess I'm just not used to having servants," she said, wondering if she would ever get used to it. It felt weird having someone else waiting on her, when really she could do things herself.

"I need to take care of some things, so I'll leave you two alone. I'll bring back lunch. If you need anything, just press the button. You can use that to reach me as well, or Scarlet has my number." Ze'ev left.

As he left, a servant came in with a painted porcelain cup full of orange juice. She set it on the bedside table. "Will that be all?" she asked.

"Yes, thank you," Scarlet's grandmother replied. The servant left.

"I think I'd like to take a nap now, Scarlet," her grandmother said after drinking the juice.

"All right. I'll put my stuff in my room. I'll turn out the lights."

"I don't think you need to. Let me try something." Suddenly the bedside lamp turned off, then back on. The same thing happened with the overhead light and the other two lamps. Her grandmother held up the remote. "It has some buttons labeled 'light.' I thought that might be what they did. Go on, I'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll be in my room if you need me." Scarlet closed the door and went to the room with the purple door. Even though she expected it, she was still shocked with how fancy the room was. After exploring a little, she decided to take a shower in the attached bathroom. After she was clean, she thought that the bed looked inviting, so she decided to take a nap as well. The bed was much more comfortable than the hospital chair she had slept on for the past two nights.

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A knock woke Scarlet up. "Scarlet? Are you awake?" Ze'ev asked outside the door.

"Maybe," she replied sleepily.

"Do you want lunch?"

That woke her up. She definitely felt hungry. "Coming!" she grabbed her red hoodie and opened the door as she was pulling her arms through its sleeves.

"Let's go eat in your grandmother's room," he said. They went down the hall and he knocked again.

"Come in," her grandmother said. Scarlet saw that she was watching TV. She turned to Scarlet. "I found this news channel, and it's fascinating! All these cities and countries I've never heard of, with so many problems that are so similar to France."

Scarlet smiled.

"Like in Majestic Kingdom. They just had a hurricane hit the coast. And Blackburn Kingdom seems to be rather hostile toward Everwhere Kingdom. Their queen sounds like a tyrant." Her grandmother turned to Ze'ev. "Could you tell me a little bit more about this world?"

"Sure." He pulled up a map app on his phone and passed it around.

"To the west and northwest of Everwhere is the Serene Ocean. To the northeast is Blackburn Kingdom, a small country ruled by Queen Levana, who has been threatening war with Everwhere throughout her rule. To the south and southeast is Majestic Kingdom, a very large country that we've always gotten along with."

He showed a few other maps, of the continent and then the world. All of the continents were different from the human world.

"Most things about this world are similar to the human world, but you'd probably just notice the differences. The climate changes across the globe like in your world. Everwhere is a little hotter that France, I believe. Any problems humans have can probably be found here, like the hurricane you mentioned. There are good werewolves and bad werewolves, just like with humans. One difference you might have noticed is that werewolf countries are still mostly kingdoms, whereas most human countries don't have hereditary rulers anymore."

Ze'ev explained more about his world for a few minutes until three servants came in carrying trays with food. Two set their trays down on the table, and one set his down on a bed table over Scarlet's grandmother. Scarlet was again uncomfortable being served by servants, but Ze'ev seemed to feel at ease, even joking with one of them.

"How were you able to rescue me from all those drug smugglers?" her grandmother asked as they ate. "There must have been thirty or forty around there."

Ze'ev blushed. "Well, I had to kill some, but I also knocked out a lot. And I was able to avoid the ones who were in the forest with my heightened senses."

"Where did you learn to fight? You took out those three men in the room with me so quickly."

"I was in the military here. Every prince and princess has to spend their eighteenth year in the military. And I'm much stronger and quicker in my wolf form than a human."

"I was in the French Air Force when I was younger. I never had do any hand-to-hand combat, though I would have loved those reflexives as a pilot. So all of the royal family has been in the military?"

"Actually, it's been required for princes to serve a year in the military since this kingdom was founded, unless they were physically unable to. But princesses never served until my great aunt did so voluntarily. So did my two aunts. And Winter said she would too, as long as it was only for a year, because she said the uniforms look frumpy."

Scarlet and her grandmother smiled.

Ze'ev and her grandmother swapped stories for a while and Scarlet grew bored. Eventually they noticed her boredom and changed topics.

He left her grandmother's room after another hour. "I'll take you on a tour of the palace later. I hope you'll enjoy it." He smiled nervously, like he was hoping to impress her.

"I look forward to it."

"You told me at the hospital that you would explain how you two know each other later," her grandmother said after Ze'ev left.

Scarlet blushed, realizing that she would have to explain now. "Um, well, actually…Ze'ev wants to marry me."

Her grandmother seemed confused. "You're already engaged to a man you hadn't even introduced me to?"

"No, it's not like that." Scarlet wondered what to say. "He wants to marry me because there's a magic spell that said we were compatible. He helped me find you sort of as an introduction." She paused. "And I haven't said 'yes' yet."

Her grandmother looked incredulous. "So how long have you two known each other?"

Scarlet thought back and was surprised. "Just three days, I guess, although it seems like longer. He wants me to visit his kingdom for a week when you get better."

"He already wants to marry you after only three days? I'm not sure I'd trust a man like that."

"No, he wanted to marry me before we even met because of the spell. He says he trusts it. But it seems kind of sudden to me too."

"Well, I don't know anything about magic, but I don't think you should marry someone without getting to know him."

"I'm not, Grand-mere. I told you I haven't said 'yes' yet. But I do like him, and I promised to visit, so we'll see what happens."

"Just don't rush into something you might regret."

"Don't worry, I won't."

Scarlet joined her grandmother on the bed and they explored the TV channels in this new world. Everything was different, but everything seemed so similar.

After a while a knock came on the door. Scarlet opened it and saw no one.

Suddenly she was almost knocked off her feet as a young girl threw herself at Scarlet and hugged her.

"It's so nice to meet you!" She pulled back and grabbed Scarlet's hands, jumping up and down. "I'm Winter, Ze'ev's sister! I always wanted a sister! We're going to have so much fun together!"

Feeling overwhelmed, Scarlet barely managed a "Hi." Winter didn't seem to notice Scarlet's discomfort. She looked to be about nine or ten, with curly black hair, and she was wearing a dress that looked too fancy for a girl her age.

"I can't wait for the wedding! Can I be a bridesmaid? Please? I think I'm too old to be a flower girl, but if you really want me to be one I guess that's okay too!" Winter seemed very eager and hyper.

"Um, we haven't started planning the wedding yet," Scarlet replied. She was dismayed that everyone here took it for granted already that she was going to marry Ze'ev, even the servants.

"We need to get you some pretty dresses! You can't be a princess dressed like that!" Winter looked over the red hoodie and jeans Scarlet was wearing with the same disapproval as Iko had.

"Well, I kind of like dressing simply."

"But dressing up is much more fun!"

"Ze'ev doesn't really dress up," Scarlet said, trying to find a defense.

"But he's a boy! And he doesn't were jeans or sweatshirts, he still wears nicer clothes, though not as fancy as he should!"

"I guess I'll think about it," Scarlet said noncommittally.

"Yay!" Winter seemed too happy about her vague agreement. She suddenly turned to Scarlet's grandmother, who had been watching in silence. "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot my manners! Hi, I'm Princess Winter! You must be Michelle Benoit." She curtsied very prettily.

Scarlet's grandmother smiled. "It's nice to meet you."

"Do you want me to take you on a tour of the palace? I'll show you all the cool rooms!"

"Actually, Ze'ev said he wanted to show us the palace," Scarlet said.

"Okay, then he can come with us!" Winter pulled out a cell phone from someplace and dialed a number. "Ze'ev! I'm here with Scarlet and she wants you to show her the palace right now! So come to her grandmother's room, okay? You better hurry! Bye!"

Scarlet was still a little dazed by Winter's exuberance, but she was starting to warm to her.

"I don't think I'm up for a tour, so you can go without me, Scarlet," her grandmother said.

"I can give you a tour some other time!" Winter said. "Showing off the palace is fun!"

Ze'ev showed up a few minutes later. Winter had started enumerating all the reasons why Scarlet would like living in the palace.

"Winter, don't jump all over Scarlet," he said when he came in, smiling. "You're going to scare her off."

"Oops, sorry! I'm just so excited to finally have a sister!" Winter beamed at Scarlet, and Scarlet couldn't help smiling back. "We can go now, right?" She grabbed Scarlet's hand and dragged her out the door.

Scarlet felt overwhelmed by how fancy the palace was, but some rooms felt cozy. Winter did most of the talking, with Ze'ev adding a few comments here or there. Winter seemed happy just exploring, but Ze'ev seemed like he was trying to impress her. Scarlet was just required to smile, nod, and occasionally say things like "That's nice" or "It's beautiful."

Ze'ev looked embarrassed when Winter insisted on showing Scarlet his suite, but Scarlet didn't see why he was worried until she went into the bedroom and saw that one side was noticeably empty. She blushed when she realized what that meant.

Winter's suite was packed full with stuffed animals, although on closer inspection she realized that few of the toys were actually animals, or at least the ones that were usually made into toys. There were stuffed plants, stuffed insects, stuffed food, stuffed sea creatures, stuffed robots, and several things that she didn't recognize, most with eyes and sometimes faces.

"This is my favorite!" Winter declared, holding up a furry white sphere. She smashed her other hand on it and it started glowing. "It's a snowball!"

Not sure how it resembled a snowball, Scarlet just said, "That's cool."

"Isn't it? I think the last stop is the Great Hall! It's almost time for dinner, so we can stay there until then! Come on!" Winter put down the snowball and pulled Scarlet out of the room.

The Great Hall really was great. A raised table at the end faced an array of tables that must have had at least three hundred seats. Winter pulled Scarlet to the raised table.

"This is where Dad sits. Mom sits next to him and then Ze'ev. Ran sits next to Dad on the other side. I used to sit next to Ze'ev, but now you can sit next to him and I'll sit next to you!"

"All right."

A man came into the Great Hall and smiled when he saw Scarlet. "This must be Scarlet." He held out his hand and she shook it. "I'm King Jael."

Scarlet started at this news, but no one seemed to notice. "It's nice to meet you," she got out in her surprise. She then realized that she had been around a prince and princess without feeling uncomfortable, so being around the king should be no different.

Scarlet noticed that other people had started trickling into the room and were settling at the other tables, but she wasn't sure who they were.

King Jael was shortly followed by a young man who looked remarkably like him. Scarlet braced herself for another introduction, but when the man caught her eye, he just snorted and moved to his seat.

"That's Ran," Ze'ev whispered in Scarlet's ear. "Don't mind him, he's just a bigot. He thinks werewolves are superior to humans."

"Okay," Scarlet replied, a little unsettled. It occurred to her that other werewolves might think the same thing. If she was to become a princess, would they not like that?

"Well, and who do we have here?" Scarlet turned around to see a large, middle age woman wearing a gown even more decorative than Winter's, with jewelry to match. "I suppose you must be Scarlet?"

"Yes," Scarlet said quickly.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Queen Camilla. How are you doing this evening?"

Scarlet wasn't startled at this introduction, since Queen Camilla's appearance had indicated her rank. "Fine, thank you."

A gong rang, and Scarlet followed everyone else to their seats. Less than a minute later, servants came out and placed food in front of them.

Scarlet was dismayed to find that the king and queen were interested in every detail of her life. They asked her question after question, although they were perfectly polite about it. Ze'ev stepped in sometimes to relieve her. Ran didn't say a thing throughout the meal, and didn't seem to even glance in her direction. Winter was more interested in telling Scarlet all the fun things they could do once she was a princess than asking questions.

Eventually Scarlet got up the nerve to ask Ze'ev about the other people in the room. "Who are the people eating at those tables down there?"

"They're the lesser nobility and special guests. I don't want to bore you by describing them now," he replied. That answer was enough for her for now.

After four courses, desert was finally served, and Scarlet was grateful. She felt overwhelmed by Ze'ev's family, although she assumed they would calm down once they knew her better. She was happy to escape back to her grandmother's room after dinner was over. Ze'ev showed her the way back and then left to take care of some things of his own.

"Did you get something to eat?" Scarlet asked her grandmother when she came in. She realized that she hadn't thought of that before.

"Yes, some nice girl brought me dinner. Have you eaten?"

"Yes, I ate with the royal family."

"How was your dinner?"

"It was exhausting. The king and queen kept asking questions. Ze'ev's brother Ran ignored me. Ze'ev said that Ran doesn't like humans. And Winter was still really excited about having a sister."

They talked more about Scarlet's dinner until Ze'ev returned.

"Ze'ev, I have something I've been meaning to ask you," Scarlet said.

"Go ahead."

"Why do you have so much free time? I would think as a prince you would have a lot of royal duties to take care of."

Ze'ev smiled. "Actually, I do, but my father excused me for a few days to take care of you. I knew it would take a while to convince you to be my mate. And I still have some things I've needed to handle, when I've left you."

Scarlet felt embarrassed that he thought he had to "take care" of her. "So you're usually a lot more busy?"

"Yes, although I promise I'll take the whole week off when you come to visit."

Scarlet hadn't been thinking about that. "Um, great." She changed the subject and they talked until her grandmother wanted to go to bed.

Standing in the hallway, Ze'ev asked, "What would you like to do now?"

"I think I'll go to bed too. It's been a long day."

He looked disappointed. "All right. Good night."

"Good night," she replied as she slipped into her room.

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Scarlet woke up slowly, with a feeling that something was off. She reached over to turn on her light, surprised that her alarm hadn't gone off, but she couldn't find it. Her bed seemed bigger than usual. Then she noticed a faint glow. She had to scoot over in the bed to reach it. She picked up an object from the table and stared at it. It looked like a remote control, with some of the buttons lit up. She pushed one, and gasped as a lamp turned on across the room.

Now that she could see the room, everything came back to her. She was in her guest room at the palace. She used the remote to turn on the other lights in the room before going into the bathroom to get ready.

Once she was dressed, she headed to her grandmother's room. She didn't knock, but eased the door open quietly to see if her grandmother was still asleep. The lights were off, so she closed the door.

Unsure what to do now, she returned to her room. She decided to call Ze'ev, to see if he was up yet. It was after nine, so he probably wouldn't complain if she woke him. She dialed his number.

"Good morning," he said when he answered. "How was your first night at the palace?"

"Pretty uneventful. My grandma is still asleep and I'm getting hungry."

"I haven't eaten yet either. I'll have breakfast sent to your room. Do you want anything in particular?"

"Not really. Maybe a muffin or some toast if they have that."

"I'll be there shortly."

Ze'ev showed up only a few minutes later, and then breakfast quickly followed. They ate mostly in silence until Ze'ev got a phone call.

"Yes?...All right, tell her we'll be right there." He hung up. "Your grandmother's awake. Are you finished?"

"Just about." Scarlet shoveled the last three bites of pancake into her mouth and stood up, grabbing the rest of her muffin. "Let's go."

Her grandmother was sitting up in bed when they came in.

"How are you feeling, Grand-mere?"

"Much better. This bed is very comfortable. I ordered breakfast when I had them call you. Have you eaten?"

"Yes." They talked for a minute until breakfast was brought in.

"I thought maybe we could go over the plan for tonight," Ze'ev said. "I assume you still want to try it?"

"I guess we have no choice." Scarlet was nervous about the plan, but nothing better had occurred to either of them.

"What plan are you talking about?" her grandmother asked.

"We thought of a plan to take out La Drogue Foule at the opera house tonight." They proceeded to explain the plan to her.

She looked worried. "That does sound like it might work, but be careful."

"We will."

Ze'ev laid out the papers he had been carrying on the table. They were a layout of the opera house. "I found a good air vent in this room in the basement," he said, pointing at one paper. "And the Palais Garnier does have private balconies, so you should be able to hide in one." They went over the plan and the layout until her grandmother wanted to take a nap.

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"There's one spot in the castle that I didn't show you yesterday. Would you like to see it now?" Ze'ev asked Scarlet nervously once they were in the hallway. He had wanted to show it to her by himself, and had whispered that desire to Winter the day before, who had reluctantly agreed to skip it on their tour.

"I'd love to see it."

He smiled. "Good. Follow me." He took her on an elevator to the top floor of the castle and led her onto a balcony. She gasped when she saw the view.

"It's beautiful! You can see the whole city from here!" Ze'ev watched Scarlet's fascination indulgently. Over the last few days, he had found that he was falling in love with her already. He had a secret motive in bringing her here, and he hoped he wouldn't ruin everything.

He started pointing out different parts of the city and telling her details about each, hoping to impress her. Eventually he discreetly took her hand, and this time she didn't yank it away. He took that as an encouraging sign. She didn't pull her hand away as he finished telling her about the city. Then he turned to her. This was his chance.

Ze'ev leaned forward slowly, giving Scarlet a chance to lean back if she wanted. He hoped that he wasn't about to make a huge mistake. She didn't move away, however, when his lips touched hers. He had meant it to be a short kiss, just to see her reaction, but she leaned into it and he found he didn't want to end it. Eventually she pulled back, and he was very pleased to see that she was smiling.

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Scarlet pulled breathlessly from the kiss. She hadn't been sure how she wanted to react when Ze'ev started to lean in, but her body moved for her. He had the same smile on his face that he'd had in the train, but this time she felt like she was in on the joke. That made her think of something.

"So when you were smiling at me in the train, you were already planning on marrying me, weren't you?"

Ze'ev looked embarrassed. "Yes. I was very pleased with you," he said sheepishly.

Scarlet noticed that he was still holding her hand. "You know, I liked you quite a bit already then, too. But I'm still not sure I'm ready to marry you."

"I don't expect you to be. I just ask you to give me time to persuade you."

"I'll give you your week, don't worry. And longer, if necessary. But no promises."

"Of course."

She turned back to the view. "But I don't know how well I'd fit into this world. It seems similar to mine, but there are so many differences."

"Well, you can become a werewolf easily enough," Ze'ev said. "You just have to be bitten."

Scarlet started. "A human can become a werewolf?"

"Yes." He paused. "Actually, if you were to be my mate, you would have to become a werewolf."

" _What_?" Scarlet was shocked. "You expect _me_ to become a _werewolf_?" She plucked her hand out of his.

"It's not that big of a deal, is it?" He sounded surprised.

"Yes, it _is_ a big deal! I don't want to be a werewolf!"

"But you wouldn't have to transform if you didn't want to. It's really not that different from being human. It's better, really. You'll have better senses and be stronger and…." He trailed off as she continued to glare at him. "Besides," he added, "the werewolves of Everwhere Kingdom wouldn't accept a human as a queen."

That was another shock. "You mean I would be _queen_ of this country?" Ze'ev nodded. "When were you going to tell me that?"

"I did tell you I was the crown prince." He looked a little intimidated.

"Yeah, but I never thought about what that would mean!" Scarlet was angry with Ze'ev for not telling her all of this sooner, as well as a little overwhelmed.

"I'm sorry, it just didn't occur to me that it would be such a big deal. My worldview is very different from yours, apparently."

"Apparently." She huffed. This was something new to consider. "Let's go back to Grand-mere's room," Scarlet said, wanting some time to think.

"If you want." Ze'ev looked disappointed. He led her back through the palace in silence. He stopped in front of her grandmother's room. "I have some things to take care of. I'll leave you here."

"Okay." He promptly walked off. She knocked on her grandmother's door, but there was no answer. She opened the door a crack again, and saw the lights were out. Her grandmother was still taking a nap.

Not sure if she was grateful or annoyed that she was left by herself to think, she returned to her room. Someone had made the bed while she was gone. Scarlet threw herself on it, not bothering to get under the covers. She lay staring at the ceiling, mind reeling from these new ideas to consider.

Ze'ev was just full of surprises. And he honestly didn't seem to understand the magnitude of them.

She had started getting used to the idea of possibly being a princess, but a _queen_? Also, she had thought that she had gotten used to the idea of Ze'ev being a werewolf, but now he wanted to make _her_ one?

But if it turned out she really loved him…what then? Despite these revelations, she was still considering the possibility of marrying him. Once the shock had worn off, they didn't sound as bad.

And she realized that she didn't have to make a decision immediately. She could think about it over the next few weeks.

Eventually she got hungry and called for lunch. After she had eaten she checked on her grandmother again, who was still asleep. She returned to her room and pulled out her phone to read a book.

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Ze'ev left Scarlet reluctantly, but the last time she got upset with him, he'd left her alone, and when he'd come back she was better. He thought he'd try that approach again. He hoped she would feel better by that evening, because they had to go to the Palais Garnier together.

It hadn't occurred to him that she would get upset by what he said, but he hadn't predicted her reaction at the hospital either. There was a divide in how they thought about things that Ze'ev would have to figure out how to bridge if they were going to work together. He clearly didn't know enough about humans. Or maybe part of it was that he had grown up as a prince, and she had lived a more typical life.

He was so used to the werewolf girls who tried to get his attention because they wanted to be a princess, that he hadn't realized that some women wouldn't want that. And he thought werewolves were mostly accepting of humans, except for some like Ran, but maybe that was because they were more used to them. Many werewolves traveled in the human world and brought back books and movies. But the only contact with werewolves that Scarlet would have had were probably old folktales about bloodthirsty werewolves, which were somewhat justified by the past.

When Ze'ev finally realized that he was hungry, he made sure that Scarlet had eaten as well. He fretfully waited another hour until he couldn't stand it any longer, then went to see her.

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Scarlet figured that the knock on the door was Ze'ev, but she still called out, "Who is it?"

"It's me. Can I come in?" he asked.

She sighed. "Sure."

He entered, looking sheepish. "I'm sorry I didn't realize that you would have problems with the situation I put you in, both here and at the hospital. I'll try harder to understand your viewpoint."

"I guess I need to try to understand your viewpoint as well."

Ze'ev smiled. "Hopefully that won't be too hard." He looked uncomfortable. "Does this mean that you're still open to considering my proposal?"

Scarlet paused, and he looked apprehensive. "I'm still not promising anything, but I'm willing to consider it."

He looked relieved. "Thank you."

"So tell me more about being a werewolf."

"Um…well, like I said before, we have better senses. I found you at that café because I could smell you. In the forest I was able to avoid the drug smugglers because of my heightened hearing and sense of smell. And I could see fairly well in the dimness."

"I could barely see anything." Scarlet paused. "So can you only be killed by silver bullets, like in the stories?"

"No, werewolves are just as vulnerable as humans, although we're better fighters even in our human form because of our faster reflexes and strength."

"I didn't really get to see you in your wolf form before because of the darkness. You didn't look exactly like a wolf."

"No, our wolf form is more humanoid. We can still walk upright and our clothes still fit."

Scarlet steeled herself and said, "Transform again. I want to see you in the light." She wasn't completely sure that she did, however, though she knew she would have to eventually.

Ze'ev looked uncomfortable. "All right…." Suddenly there was a wolf in front of her, although he was still humanoid, like he'd said.

Scarlet studied him for a moment before turning her head away. "Okay, you can transform back." When she looked back, he was normal again. "It's going to take me a while to get used to that."

"I won't transform in front of you if you don't want. There are a few holidays that are celebrated by all werewolves turning into their wolf form."

Scarlet was shocked. " _Everyone_ here transforms?"

"But you can stay in your room for those if they make you uncomfortable," Ze'ev quickly added.

"I may take you up on that, although I might get used to them. The idea of transforming myself is kind of scary."

"Well, you won't have to if you don't want to, but like you said, you might get used to it."

"Maybe."

Despite Scarlet still being a little wary of Ze'ev wanting her to become a werewolf, the awkwardness between them seemed alleviated, and they talked comfortably until he said it was time to get ready for the opera.

18


	4. The Opera

What He Knows That She Doesn't: Scarlet and Wolf

Chapter 4: The Opera

by Down Iris

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I do not have any rights to nor make any money from the characters in this story.

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Friday night found Scarlet in her room with a maid. She had been reluctant to accept help getting ready, but Ze'ev had pointed out that she couldn't button her dress herself. The dress was beautiful. It was pink like the seamstress had said, but it was several different shades of pink. Her gloves were pink to match and came almost to her elbows. The maid tried to convince Scarlet to let her do something with her hair, but she decided to leave it down, although she was unable to keep the maid from insisting on combing it thoroughly.

When she was ready, a knock came at the door. "Come in," Scarlet said. Ze'ev opened the door and stepped in. As soon as he saw her in her dress, he smiled.

"You look beautiful."

Scarlet blushed. "Uh, thanks. You look pretty good too." Ze'ev was wearing a tuxedo, and his bowtie looked like it was strangling him. "Don't men usually try to loosen their ties?"

"I don't mind it tight. Anyway, I have something for you." He pulled a bag from behind his back. "This is the necklace that will negate the sleeping powder's effects." He pulled a necklace out of the bag and handed it to her.

"It's beautiful," she said. Three small turquoise crystals were imprisoned in tiny metal cages and attached along a small chain.

"Its primary purpose is to be functional, but it looks nice too, which is good since you'll need to fit in at the opera."

"Where's yours?"

He patted his chest. "It's under my tuxedo. People might wonder if I wore it on the outside. I also had these made to match your necklace." He pulled two earrings out of the bag. They each had a small crystal in a cage dangling down. "The necklace we have to give back tomorrow, but you can keep the earrings. They don't have any magic cast on them yet, but you can decide on a spell later if you want one."

"Thanks." Scarlet put on the earrings and moved to fasten the necklace, but Ze'ev grabbed it out of her hands.

"Allow me." She lifted up her hair so he could see, and he fastened the necklace behind her neck, just barely touching her. She felt a tingle run down her spine.

"What metal is this?" Scarlet asked, lifting up the necklace. It was silver colored.

"The necklace is probably stainless steel, but I had the earrings made out of white gold."

Scarlet started and reached up to touch one of the earrings. They had a fair amount of metal in each. How much had they cost? She was dismayed to have been given such an expensive gift by someone she barely knew, but then it occurred to her that Ze'ev was still expecting to marry her, and being a prince probably meant he had plenty of money. "Thank you," she said again, unable to think of what else to say.

Ze'ev didn't seem to notice her discomfort. "Here's your final present." He pulled a large, fancy purse out of the bag. It was made out of the same fabric as her dress. "It seems a bit big for someone to take to the opera, but it's filled with zip ties. If you run out, call me, because I have a whole duffel bag full. It also has a bag of magic sleeping powder in it, too." Scarlet took the purse and glanced inside it. "Are you ready to go, then?"

"What about our disguises?"

"We can save those until we get to the magical gate."

"I'm ready then."

Ze'ev took her back to the magical gate. After he cast the disguise spells, Scarlet stared at his new face for a minute so she would remember it. There would be a lot of unfamiliar faces in tuxedos at the opera, and it would be bad if she forgot which one was him.

"Okay, I think I have you memorized. Will you be able to recognize me?"

"You still have your red hair and your dress, so you should be easy to pick out. Also, I can tell that you have a disguise spell on you, and I doubt anyone else will have one." He had the gatekeeper open the gate to the basement room where Ze'ev had found had the best air vent.

After they stepped through, Scarlet made her way up to the private balconies. She had memorized the layout of the opera house earlier that day. She waited until she saw a group of four go into one balcony, to make sure the whole party was there. She gave them a minute to settle in before inching the door open quietly. She took out some magic powder and blew it into the room. She quickly closed the door so none would seep back out into the hallway. If anyone fell asleep out there, someone might get suspicious.

After waiting a minute to make sure everyone was asleep, Scarlet snuck back in. All four people were sleeping. She stood in front of the door and got out her cell phone. She watched the stage, ready to text Ze'ev as soon as La Drogue Foule showed themselves.

The lights dimmed and the opera started. Scarlet waited, and waited. Eventually she got tired of standing up, so she dragged a man out of the nearest chair and sat down. She kept checking the time on her cell phone as the minutes ticked by without a sign of La Drogue Foule.

Finally it was intermission. As noise drifted up from the theater below, Scarlet called Ze'ev. "It's intermission already, and I haven't seen anything suspicious. Do you think your informant was wrong, or that maybe they got scared off for some reason?"

"I have no idea. But we still need to be alert. Maybe they're just waiting for something."

"This waiting is agony."

"I know. But all we can do is be patient."

Intermission ended and the actors had just reappeared on the stage when a gunshot went off. Several people screamed. A man with a gun leaped onto the stage. The actors scurried away from him.

Scarlet hurriedly texted, "Now." More men with guns climbed onto the stage.

"We are La Drogue Foule and we are here on a mission," the first man onto the stage declared. "Our leader, Carswell Thorne, was arrested three months ago, and we are holding this opera house hostage until he is freed!" The lights in the theater came back on. "You don't need to bother calling the police, they're already on their way!"

Scarlet noticed a scuffle in the first row. Looking down, she saw a man, a woman, and a girl being hauled to their feet and marched up onto the stage. Scarlet couldn't make out their faces, but she assumed they were the Saturnies. The man and woman were tied to chairs, but the girl was restrained from going towards them by a man holding her elbow. "Let me go!" she cried, and kicked the man, but he held her firm.

"We also want to take our revenge on Minister Saturnie here for…." The man trailed off as those around him started falling asleep. He looked around, confused, and soon joined them. Scarlet looked down into the audience and noticed that most of them had fallen asleep too. In less than a minute, everyone seemed to be asleep.

Scarlet texted, "They're down," and grabbed her purse.

She quickly made her way to the foyer, stopping to zip tie one man in the hallway and kick away his gun. She needed to clear the foyer quickly in case the police tried to come in.

She was shocked by the amount of people there. At least twenty men lay on the floor, surrounded by guns and ammo. She thought she heard people talking outside, and she was hurrying back up the staircase after she was done zip tying everyone when the front doors burst open. She turned to see police in riot gear storming in and ran away as quickly as possible.

"Freeze!" one of them shouted as she ducked behind a wall. Scarlet heard the confusion of the police behind her. She used the camera on her phone to see around the corner and watched as the police officers quickly fell asleep too, blocking the doors. Then she moved on.

She had found and zip tied several more men with guns throughout the opera house by the time Ze'ev caught up with her. "I think that's everyone. I couldn't find the man I interrogated, he must have known to stay away. Anyway, we should get out of here."

"Fine with me." They hurried downstairs and back to the basement room. Scarlet waited as Ze'ev loaded powder into an air vent.

"They should all be awake in a few minutes. Hopefully the police will be able to take all of the La Drogue Foule members into custody without a problem. I'll go pick up a paper tomorrow morning." He called for a gate and soon they were stepping back into the room of the magical gate.

As they were leaving the room, Scarlet started trembling with delayed nerves. Or maybe it was the adrenaline wearing off. "Did we really just do that?" she asked.

"I believe we did. It seemed so simple, didn't it?"

Scarlet turned to face Ze'ev. "You should take off our disguise spells. It's weird talking to you when you have the same voice but a different face."

"Certainly. You're much prettier with your own face, anyway." Scarlet blushed, and soon she could see his real face again.

"So what do we do now?"

"Actually, I have a dinner reservation for us at a fancy restaurant. I don't usually like to dress up, but since we already are, why not go someplace that you have to dress up for?"

"That sounds good. I'm getting hungry. But what I really want is to know how that opera ends."

"I'll see if I can get a copy of it for you to watch. But for now, we eat." Ze'ev held out his elbow, and Scarlet took it, laughing.

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Scarlet was woken up the next morning by a knock on her door. "Who is it?"

"It's Ze'ev. Can I come in?"

"Just a sec." Scarlet got out of bed and pulled some pants on. She opened the door to see a giant picture of two people in fancy clothes. It took her a second to realize that the guy looked like what Ze'ev had looked like the night before, and the girl had curly red hair and a familiar pink dress. Then she realized that it was a newspaper Ze'ev was holding up. "We made the front page!" She grabbed the newspaper out of his hands and sat down on the side of the bed, eagerly reading the story.

He closed the door and sat down next to her. "They're searching for us almost like we were the criminals. But all of La Drogue Foule got rounded up, it looks like. You can probably go home safely now." He sounded regretful.

Scarlet smiled. "Don't worry, I'll come back. I did promise you a week. I'll clear my schedule for sometime soon." She was looking forward to spending more time with Ze'ev, even though she knew she wasn't ready to commit.

He smiled back. "I'll be waiting."


End file.
